shell series

Living in coastal California, I have many opportunities to enjoy nature. Equally important to me as the forest is the ocean with its beaches and sea life. When I began the shell series, it was out of a fascination with the incredible shells we find on the beaches during long walks in the evenings. Shells have such a fascinating presence. It seems easy to get lost in the details, but the form is always magnificent in its seemingly simple complexity. In the shell series I pay tribute to the magnificence of nature’s creation and hope to create vessels that have a similar harmony and wonder. Interior and exterior rise and fall like ocean swells, and there is the haunting echo of the ocean sounds in this visual metaphor. I work at making forms that exude a clean openness that is the sandy shore. As the light plays upon the vessel, I am reminded of the ocean’s mysteries that we glimpse through the vessels it leaves behind.

In some of the pieces in my Shell Series, I have the opportunity to rest the piece on its side like the shells I find on the beach. This position reflects the timeless peace of stasis after the shell’s long and arduous journey from deep within the ocean, having been buffeted and tossed by the waves. We all seem to be fascinated with the remains of history that shells represent, like paleontologists viewing dinosaur bones or fossilized fish. But shells are immediate representations of a former utility, the archaeology of a creature’s past life within a civilization that is incomprehensible to us. These mysteries are what I think about when finishing the interiors of the shells. This amazing architecture held life and has use again in its rebirth as vessel. There is always a sense of fragility with shells that is a counterpoint to the majesty of spectacular engineering. Wood polishes beautifully, and I try to emulate the beautiful sheen found in simple shells. It is my hope that the vessels from my Shell Series will reflect special times in our lives, the times of quiet meditation, the introspection that is fostered by peaceful surroundings. As the wood and the form commune, I seek this rare harmony.